Favre Paces Vikings To Convincing 35-9 Victory

The Vikings 9th victory of 2009 was a convincing one as they put together a dominant display of football along the way to a resounding 35-9 victory over the Seattle Seahawks at Mall of America Field on Sunday.

Seattle RB Justin Forsett buried his way past the goal line before the game concluded, but that late-game TD does nothing to diminish the dominating performance the Vikings defense registered. The Seahawks tallied just 10 first downs and only 212 net yards. They were 1 for 10 on 3rd downs, had 10 penalties called against them and lost the time of possession battle 42:11 to 17:49.

As dominant as the Vikings defense was, the offense was just as sensational. Along the way to recording 28 first downs and holding the ball for more than two-thirds of the game, the Vikings gashed Seattle’s defense for 431 net yards and a 62% conversion rate on 3rd down.

For the 22nd time in his career, Favre had 4 passing TDs, breaking Dan Marino’s record for most games with 4 passing TDs. In total, Favre was 22 of 25 for 213 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs and a passer rating of 141.7. The 88% completion rate set a Vikings single-game record and marks the 2nd time he’s completed 80% or more of his passes in a game this season.

Complementing the passing clinic Favre put on was RB Adrian Peterson and the rushing attack, which put up 160 yards on 37 attempts. Peterson had 82 yards on 24 attempts and Taylor contributed 73 yards on 11 tries.

The win improves Minnesota to 9-1 overall and 7-0 in the NFC as they continue their pursuit of a 2nd straight NFC North title and playoff appearance. They play division rival Chicago at home next week to cap a 3-game home stand before hitting the road to play the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13.

It was over when…

Following the Vikings 2nd TD that made the score 14-0, Seahawks kick returner Ben Obomanu was stripped by S Jamarca Sanford and LB Heath Farwell recovered, giving the Vikings possession on Seattle’s 34-yardline. Six plays later on 2nd and goal from the 3-yardline, Favre rifled a pass to Bernard Berrian on a short slant route for a TD, giving the Vikings a commanding 21-0 lead just before halftime.

Highlights

-- The Vikings offense was fine-tuned machine against Seattle and that will be well-chronicled below, but the performance by the Vikings defense on Sunday should not go overlooked. The Vikings defense has now gone 33 games without allowing an opposing rusher to gain 100 yards on the ground as they held Forsett to 9 yards on 9 carries and the entire Seahawks team to 4 yards on 13 attempts. At halftime when the Vikings led 21-0, Seattle had just 61 total yards with -6 rushing yards, 2 first downs and had converted 0 of 5 third down tries.

-- Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck had some success – he was 19 of 26 for 231 yards – but he and his receivers couldn’t find the endzone. Missing Antoine Winfield yet again, the Vikings secondary rose to the occasion and even intercepted the Pro Bowl QB. Karl Paymah had 4 tackles, Benny Sapp had 3 and a forced fumble and rookie Asher Allen had a tackle, INT and pass defensed.

-- Favre put on a tremendous passing display, spreading his 22 completions among 7 receivers and picking up 17 first downs through the air. His favorite target on the afternoon was Shiancoe, who had 8 grabs for 78 yards and the TD. Rice had 6 receptions for 89 yards and a pair of TDs.

-- The Vikings averaged 4.3 yards per carry on Sunday, complementing nicely the balanced aerial attack. Peterson had a workman-like effort, registering 82 yards on 24 attempts. Taylor was a nice change of pace and also came in at the end of the game to close it out for the offense.

-- DE Ray Edwards and LB E.J. Henderson logged impressive performances. Edwards led the Vikings in tackles with 6 while Henderson made a few of the splash plays Vikings fans have become accustomed to. Henderson sacked Hasselbeck once and broke up a couple of plays in the backfield for losses.

-- NO TURNOVERS!

-- Rookie DB Asher Allen played extensively yet again because of the absence of Winfield. Allen picked off a Hasselbeck pass for his 1st career interception.

-- We haven’t mentioned the special teams or kicking game, but we should. It was this unit that helped deliver the knock-out blow late in the 2nd quarter when Sanford forced the fumble and Farwell was there to cover it up. K Ryan Longwell had another touchback today and was perfect on PATs. P Chris Kluwe averaged 43.2 yards per punt and had long of 54. The Vikings coverage units allowed 20.6 yards per kickoff return and just 6.5 yards per punt return.

-- With the both the passing game and running game clicking, credit must go to the Vikings offensive line for creating running lanes and keep Favre off the turf. Favre was sacked twice but generally had plenty of time to throw and the Vikings were able to run all over the Seahawks defense.

-- Rice put in another great effort on Sunday, hauling in an improbable TD catch in the back corner of the endzone over a pair of defenders and then taking a short reception from Tarvaris Jackson and breaking a tackle to turn it into a 34-yard score. Rice had 6 receptions for 89 yards, an average of 14.8 yards per reception, and he had the 2 TDs.

-- The Vikings were 8 of 13 on 3rd downs, 3 of 3 in the red zone and 3 of 3 in goal-to-go efficiency.

A couple of things to work on…

-- The Vikings had 13 penalties last week and cut that down to 5 this week, but the 1st one on the afternoon was costly because it came on the 1st play of the 1st offensive possession. The 2nd and 3rd penalties came on the next possession and negated gains on 3rd down.

-- Kluwe’s 1st, 4th and 5th punts of the game were good, but the 2nd and 3rd punts did not yield great results. The 2nd punt was snapped from the 36-yardline and the coverage unit was not able to down a perfectly placed punt by Kluwe; the ball then bounced into the endzone for a touchback. The 3rd punt was a 31-yarder that went out of bounds and gave Seattle the ball on their own 37-yardline. The defense stepped up and forced a 3-and-out on the ensuing possession, however

What they were saying…

“I thought those guys had a little hop in their step. I’m proud of the way they competed. They got nine (wins) and we got six more to see how good we can possibly be as we push forward here.” – Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress

“We’ve got a lot of confidence and that comes with each week just going out there and handling our business. I feel like we haven’t … the last two weeks we didn’t come out with the start that we would like but we’re able to pick it up and put away some guys. That’s good and we continue to learn from it.” – RB Adrian Peterson

“It was written like a little pick and I came up inside and it just opened up for him. That’s awesome. That’s how you draw it up, and it’s always good to see another linebacker get stuff like that.” – LB Chad Greenway, on E.J. Henderson’s sack

“I think he (Brett Favre) is doing a great job of using the system to his advantage. Obviously not many people know it better than him. He’s got a good feel for all the tools that he has; wide receivers, tight ends. You see those top four guys and their numbers receiving wise, its tight ends, it’s every one of the wide receivers and he’s parceling it around pretty good to all those guys with merit.” – Childress

“The offensive line has kept me clean. The sacks that I’ve taken for the most part have been sacks that probably I should have dumped the ball off; got rid of it. So physically speaking, that has really helped me. I don’t want to say that each week I’ve felt better. At 40 years old though, it doesn’t hurt to go in for the next and go, ‘I probably feel a little bit better than I did last week.’ So a lot of credit goes to those guys.” – QB Brett Favre

“It was a spot route over the ball. Brett did a great job of looking the safety off so the linebacker kind of thought I went the other way. It was Brett who looked that guy off and I ran that spot route and once I caught it there was nobody there.” – WR Percy Harvin on his 23-yard TD reception

“I think Les (Frazier) and the defensive staff did a great job of holding their looks and disguising their looks and kind of showing him some things that he thought he saw. I can think of one particular one where I thought Madieu (Williams) did a great job holding the look until the last second.” -- Childress

“[T]here’s always something you can get better at. We’ll get in. We’ll watch the film. The next couple of days, a lot of people are going to go in. That’s what I like about this team. A lot of people are still going to go in and watch the film and make the corrections that need to be made.” – WR Sidney Rice

“I don’t know, not being here in the past, but it seems like he has, I don’t want to say opened things up more, but he’s been a little more giving. The giving and taking has been (good) from what I can tell. Guys go up, “Hey I can beat him on a post. We can run over here.” He’s open to that. I think as a head coach the give-and-take has to be there, especially with a veteran team like we have here.” -- Favre